WATSONVILLE — In 2012, Watsonville Police officers took 82 firearms out of the hands of criminals.
That number has ebbed and flowed every year since then, never dipping below 74 guns in 2015.
Last year, WPD took 182 guns off the streets. So far this year, 30 have been removed, WPD Sgt. Mish Radich said.
On Thursday, Radich displayed 65 guns for the media that were seized during criminal investigations from 2009 through 2017, ranging from AR-15 rifles to a tiny Derringer pistol.
With their associated criminal cases completed, all are destined for an incinerator in the Central Valley to be melted into scrap metal.
Most of the guns were stolen, many of them during home burglaries, Radich said. This can be easily prevented when owners store their firearms in safes, and never in their vehicles, he said.
“It shows we’re doing everything we can to prevent these crimes from happening,” he said.
As the guns leave the streets, the numbers of gun-related crimes, including homicides, have gone down, Radich said.
In the past two years, there has been just one homicide, he said. That number is down drastically since 2014, when 10 homicides occurred, Radich said.
“There is a direct correlation,” he said. “The more guns we take off the street, the less violent crime we have.”
